Explore St. Louis, the official destination marketing organization of St. Louis City and County, is pleased to announce the hiring of David Duncan as Chief Sales Officer.
In this role, Duncan will focus his more than 30 years of sales and marketing leadership on ensuring Explore St. Louis continues its upward trajectory in attracting meetings and conventions to the Gateway City. In addition, Duncan will focus efforts on positioning AC Next Gen, the expansion and enhancement of America’s Center, as a top tier facility for national-level gatherings.
Acting vice president of sales, Eric Janecke, has been part of the Explore St. Louis team since 2019, guiding the organization through the highly challenging pandemic. Janecke will remain in place during Duncan’s transition into the Chief Sales Officer role.
Duncan spent many years in St. Louis’ hotel industry, and he is galvanized by the city’s current growth trajectory. “Timing is everything. I now have my dream job in my favorite city on the planet,” says Duncan. “It’s an exciting time to be in St. Louis with all the new attractions, awesome airlift and the expansion of America’s Center. It’s truly an amazing feeling to be back in St. Louis and be a part of selling the city’s next chapter.”
“After an extensive national search with the assistance of our board of commissioners, we are excited to have David take on this role,” says Kathleen “Kitty” Ratcliffe, President of Explore St. Louis. “He complements our strong performance-oriented culture, and we believe his leadership and demonstrated track record of execution and achieving results makes him the right choice to lead our national sales efforts.”
Most recently, Duncan held the title of director of sales and marketing at the Sheraton Grand Nashville Downtown where he oversaw 40,000 square feet of function space and became a board member for the Nashville Convention and Visitors Corp. Duncan has also held several leadership and management roles at Marriott International, JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort and Spa, Renaissance SeaWorld Orlando and Hilton St. Louis at the Ballpark. Duncan received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Illinois Springfield.
